Johnson made it clear that his goal in 2012 is win the NL pennant. To do that, the Nats must improve offensively. Johnson felt that his position players struck out too much. He would like to see much more production out of his reserves. Last year, the bench was built on speed and defense. Johnson would like to add power to the bench.

Personally I feel that this team is ready to take the next step, that being said bringing Livan back on a 1 year deal for cheap money wouldn't be the worst thing for this team to do. Worst case with him you get a Wakefield type long man who can throw a bunch of innings. Sizemore would fit in very well as a wise gamble for this team to make, I wouldn't rule out Josh Willingham part 2 either.

Wang credits the Nationals for not giving up on him even though it took so long to recover from the shoulder injury. "I am appreciative of the opportunity and all the support the Nationals gave me to make the comeback," Wang said in a statement. "I am excited about next season, playing together with my teammates, and look forward to doing my best to help the Nationals to the playoffs."

According to one source, the Nationals have scouted Wada "a lot" this past season and "the team considers him an option." The 30-year-old has played his entire career with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, going 16-5 with a 1.51 ERA this past season.

Personally I feel that this team is ready to take the next step, that being said bringing Livan back on a 1 year deal for cheap money wouldn't be the worst thing for this team to do. Worst case with him you get a Wakefield type long man who can throw a bunch of innings. Sizemore would fit in very well as a wise gamble for this team to make, I wouldn't rule out Josh Willingham part 2 either.

I wouldn't mind any of those options. Sizemore in CF, Willingham in LF (until Harper is ready), Livan for depth.

Of their free agents I wouldn't mind seeing them bring back Laynce Nix, Rick Ankiel, and Livan Hernadez. Todd Coffey will probably be signed somewhere else. If Jesus Flores is healthy, let Ivan Rodriguez go.

http://espn.go.com/b...ght-field<br />While the Nationals have stated their desire to have Harper play at each level of the minors, starting a season with a 19-year-old position player in the majors wouldn't be unprecedented. Back in 1989, the Seattle Mariners gave their Opening Day center-field job to a kid who had played just 18 games above Class A.

Ken Griffey Jr. turned out pretty well.

Obviously, phenoms like Griffey are the rarity. Since 1950, only four players in their age-19 season have received 500 plate appearances -- Griffey, Robin Yount, Rusty Staub and Al Kaline. Only three others -- Edgar Renteria, Ed Kranepool and Tony Conigliaro, received as many as 400 plate appearances.

But Johnson's point was clear: That's the kind of talent Harper possesses.

If Harper wins the right-field job, Johnson also said he'd be comfortable sliding Jayson Werth over to center field, where he started 14 games last season. "He loves center," Johnson said. "He's a heck of a right fielder and I thought he did a good job in center."

The Philadelphia Phillies have signed outfielder Laynce Nix to a two-year contract.Nix batted .250 with a career-high 16 home runs and 44 RBIs in 124 games for the Washington Nationals last season. He started 79 games, including 59 in left field, 12 in right field and six at first base. The 32-year-old Nix is a left-handed hitter.

The Nationals made their first trade of the offseason on Friday, acquiring reliever Ryan Perry from the Tigers in exchange for right-hander Collin Balester.

Perry became expendable after the Tigers signed free agent Octavio Dotel during the Winter Meetings. Perry is a pitcher who has a power arm. His fastball is clocked as high as 99 mph. He also has a power slider. Perry, who has a Minor League option left, could make the Nationals' big league roster as a sixth or seventh inning reliever before Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen enter the game.

The Nationals have signed right-handed reliever Jeff Fulchino, who split last season between the Padres and Astros.In a five-season career that has also included stints with the Marlins and Royals, the 32-year-old Fulchino is 9-10 with a 4.84 ERA in 163 relief outings. He was 1-4 with a 5.71 ERA in 2010.

The Nationals have agreed on a Minor League deal with outfielder Mike Cameron. Manager Davey Johnson said that he is looking for power off the bench and Cameron, who will turn 39 on Jan. 8, could be one of his answers. Besides coming off the bench, Cameron could platoon with Roger Bernadina in center field.

This season, Cameron played for the Red Sox and Marlins and hit a combined .203, with nine home runs and 27 RBIs. He is best remembered for being traded from the Reds to the Mariners as part of the deal that sent Ken Griffey Jr. to Cincinnati after the 1999 season.

I like the Lidge signing, but I'm surprised he picked the Nats. That bullpen is getting full if I ever seen one...

The rotation should feature Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, John Lannan, and Chien-Ming Wang. That pushes the already competent Ross Detwiler into being the ace of the triple-A staff and first injury call up as the bullpen already has a long reliever in Tom Gorzelanny.

Drew Storen is the closer. The leaves Tyler Clippard, Brad Lidge, Sean Burnett, Henry Rodriguez, and Ryan Perry as locks for middle relief duty in the bullpen. Cole Kimball and Ryan Mattheus would then be battling for the final spot (if they went with an eight-man bullpen), assuming they don't want Detwiler sitting in the pen. I know Lidge isn't exactly a model of good health of recent, and that Strasburg, Zimmermann, and Wang aren't long removed from serious injuries, but that could be one of the top pitching staffs from top to bottom in the league if things shape up.

In a development that essentially removes any suspense heading into spring training where their bullpen is concerned, The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to terms with free-agent reliever Todd Coffey on a one-year, $1.3 million contract with a club option for 2013.

Coffey spent last season with the Washington Nationals, posting a 3.62 ERA in 69 appearances, striking out 46 and walking 20 in 59 2/3 innings. He has a career ERA of 4.08 and briefly pitched out of the closer's role for the Cincinnati Reds in 2006, posting eight of his 11 career saves.

The Cardinals and utility fielder Alex Cora have agreed on a minor-league deal that will allow the veteran to serve as both competition and mentor for the club's group of less-experienced infielders.

Cora hit .224 for the Washington Nationals in 2011 while appearing at all four positions in the infield. He was considering a move to coaching -- a role the Cardinals see him holding while vying for a spot on the major-league bench.

Outfielder Rick Ankiel is returning to the Nationals. On Sunday, he agreed to terms on a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training, a baseball source confirmed to MLB.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Nationals were looking for a left-handed hitter for their bench, and Ankiel could be a good fit. He also could find himself platooning in center field with Mike Cameron, who also signed a Minor League deal this offseason.

The Nationals signed corner infielder and outfielder Mark Teahen to a minor-league deal, the team announced this afternoon. Teahan, 30, will compete for a spot on the Nationals’ bench and could give them needed depth at Class AAA Syracuse.

In his seven-year career, Teahen has hit .264/.327/.409, mostly with the Kansas City Royals. Teahen struggled mightily last season with the Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, hitting .200/.273/.300 with four home runs in 177 plate appearances.

Zimmerman to have an AAV of $15.75 million over the next 8 years. Love that they spent their money to lock up the best 3rd baseman in the NL, rather than spend it on Prince Fielder. Good core of young players locked up for the next 5-7 years.

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"Hopefully, it's not serious," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "(Wang) was having a great spring, trying to come back to what he was. So you hate to see something like that."He was having a great outing. He was throwing the heck out of the ball. He was pitching at 90-91 (miles per hour), and he hit 93. He was just outstanding."

Rodriguez finishes with a .296 batting average, 2,884 hits, 311 home runs and 1,332 RBIs. He broke the record of 10 Gold Gloves at catcher that had been held by Johnny Bench and hit .300 or better 10 times.

Rodriguez spent the last two seasons with the Washington Nationals. He decided not to accept a contract offer from the Kansas City Royals, who were interested after Salvador Perez injured a knee and needed surgery. Rodriguez hit just .218 last year with two homers and 19 RBIs in 124 at-bats.

I am all aboard the Nats train and have already been to a couple games this year.

I think the vast improvements they made to the bench this year (Chad Tracy, Xavier Nady, Mark DeRosa, Steve Lombardozzi) are going to pay huge dividends for this team this year.

Pitching and Defense have been keeping them in games. They have made a lot of late inning comebacks from down a run or two. I have been to 2 games in the stadium so far this year - Red Sox pre-season game (of course) and the one they lost to the Reds in extras. But even in that game they were impressive. Starting out down 5 runs, and then clawing their way back into a tie to force extra innings.

They now have the best record in the National League with the Dodgers loss last night and #2 overall in the Majors.

If they could start hitting a little better with RISP, they would be tough to stop with that Rotation and Pen!

Wang is expected to throw 65 pitches for the Class A affiliate, according to manager Davey Johnson, and will likely need about three more outings before returning to the big league club. Wang already had a successful outing in an extended spring game on Monday.

Zimmermann (1-1) threw four scoreless innings before Orlando Hudson touched him for a solo homer in the fifth, snapping a stretch of 26 scoreless innings by Nationals starters. The previous team best was 24 straight, in 2005, which was established by John Patterson, Hector Carrasco, Esteban Loaiza and Livan Hernandez.

General manager Mike Rizzo announced that Bryce Harper will be called up from Triple-A tomorrow to make his MLB debut this weekend at Dodger Stadium, which seemingly comes out of nowhere given that the top prospect was hitting just .250 with a .333 on-base percentage and .375 slugging percentage in 20 games at Triple-A.

That the Nationals were able to consolidate their resources to acquire Gonzalez while retaining an admirably deep minor league system -- which is led by outfielder Bryce Harper (No. 1 on B.A.'s Top 100 list) and third baseman Anthony Rendon (No. 19, and considered the best hitter in last June's draft) -- is the direct result of a philosophy that was installed immediately after the Lerner family bought the team from Major League Baseball in July 2006. The philosophy was carried out by Rizzo, who was hired as the club's new vice president of baseball operations: develop, or die trying."We didn't mind the pain of finishing last," says Jim Bowden, who was the Nationals' GM until 2009, when he resigned and was replaced by Rizzo. "When Rizzo came in, we were all in on scouting and development -- and nothing else mattered."

The article goes on to say that they didn't sign middling free agents just to be sorta bad. They angling for very bottom and they got lucky on top of that. Interesting for them to admit that.